


Three's Company

by notabadday



Category: Peaky Blinders (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-05
Updated: 2013-11-05
Packaged: 2017-12-31 13:14:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1032103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notabadday/pseuds/notabadday
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the events of 1x06, Tommy and Grace are navigating their new relationship - and Finn joins them for dinner.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Three's Company

"Come to mine early tonight. We'll have dinner," Grace proposed after a chaste kiss in Tommy's private room of the pub. He nodded. "It's tiresome, you know, Tommy - having you go off to them and have your meetings and dinner, then knocking on my door when you're good and ready."

 "You'll be welcome at the house soon," he assured her.

 "I'm not sure I'll want to be going where I'm not wanted."

 "Seems I underestimated you then, Grace. I'd have thought you'd be used to going where you're not wanted, in your line of work."

 She looked at him, as amused as she was annoyed. "I think it's in your interests that I keep away from any previous occupational hazards, don't you?"

 "Perhaps," he conceded, smiling as he moved a hand across her cheek. He thought for a moment on her earlier proposition. "I just remembered, I promised Finn I'd see him tonight. Wanted to talk to me earlier and I shrugged him off to get over here before the races."

 "Finn can come to dinner," she offered.

 "Yeah?"

 "Yeah. If he wants to. I imagine he'd at least wait until dessert before airing his grievances with me, unlike the rest of your clan." She sighed. "Justified as they may be."

 "If there's dessert, Finn won't utter a word against you. What time?"

 "Six o'clock."

 Tommy gave Grace a happy nod, despite the seriousness of her expression. 

 "I think I'm needed behind the bar." She disappeared through the door, leaving Tommy to down his whiskey before marching off to the races.

 

* * *

 

As she stirred her dubious-looking stew, Grace heard an energetic knock at the front door. It wasn't heavy and slow like Tommy's, but eager and urgent. Grace rushed through her door and down the small flight of stairs. When she got to the front door, it appeared there was no one there. After a pause, she looked down to see the youngest Shelby brother standing confidently, waiting for her to let him past.

 "Hello Finn. Tommy not with you?"

 "Not back from the races yet. He said to come to you for dinner, said he'd come here once they're back," Finn explained, leading her up her own stairs. She didn't mind.

 "Okay, Finn. You hungry?"

 "Yeah!" he said, enthusiastically.

 She smiled, sitting down with him at her small rickety table. "Polly alright with you coming here for your dinner?"

 "Tommy said not to pay any notice to her, but she was off with him. Told me to watch myself. I said I didn't think you meant bad. You've always been kind on me. You should be careful. I don't think it's very good to be making enemies of Aunt Polly, nor John or Arthur. Our Ada's mad too."

 "I think you're right, Finn."

 "Yeah." He said, absently, as she smiled.

 "I made a mistake. An error in judgement."

 "Those'll get you killed in Small Heath," he said as though repeating advice that had previously been given to him. "Tommy likes you though. He won't let nothing bad happen to you."

 "I like him too. And I won't let anything bad happen to him, or any of your Shelbys, not again. For all their anger at me, I find something admirable in it."

 "Do you have a family? To protect you like Tommy protects us," Finn asked innocently.

 "I did. Once." Grace spoke vacantly and Finn realised retrospectively that it was perhaps a mistake to pry. He left it there, hanging in the air. Coming out of a brief daydream, Grace then opted to change the subject. "How about a game of cards while we wait on Tommy?"

 

* * *

 

When Tommy got there, he let himself in, interrupting their rowdy game of snap. Finn was laughing away as he took a pair of cards from Grace's palm to add to his own pack. "You're terrible at this!" he was chuckling.

 "What time do you call this?" Grace said playfully, as she saw Tommy coming in. Without thinking too much about it, she got up and kissed him as he took his cap and coat off. "You can play my hand while I serve up."

 Tommy hid a smile, a smugness about their situation creeping in. She looked more relaxed than she had since it had all come out. While they both felt just as passionately about each other as they always had, the relationship had been strained by her social exile. He understood her frustration but couldn't do much to help the situation. His family were understandably stubborn on the issue.

 "I'm thrashing her, Tom!"

 "Glad to hear it," Tommy said in a very faux-macho manner before placing down the final card of Grace's hand and losing it to his brother. Tommy enjoyed Finn's triumph as much as Finn, and watched his brother play with the pack in his hands.

 "Right, hope you've both got an appetite..."

 

* * *

 

"Finn, I think you cheered Grace up tonight. You're a good lad," said Tommy, gratefully, as Grace let them alone to go to the toilet.

 "Do you think I should have let her win the cards, Tom?"

 "No, I think she appreciated the respect of a fair game."

 "I think I upset her before," Finn admitted quietly, almost in a whisper.

 "How?"

 "I asked her about... if she had a family. We were talking about you and Aunt Polly, the family. I said they were only protective is all. I wanted her to understand, you know, why they're cross... So I asked." His explanation was filled with hesitations.

 "And what did she say?"

 "She said, once she did. But then she went dead quiet and something seemed wrong. I thought maybe if she thought about her family, she'd understand. She'd understand ours. I didn't mean to make her sad." Finn grew more anxious about their earlier exchange as he relayed it to Tommy.

 "Alright, Finn," Tommy reassured his brother, thinking over the information in his head as he appeared outwardly to shrug it off.

 

* * *

 

When Grace re-entered the room, Tommy was lowered to Finn's level and they looked very deep in conversation. Clearly sensing she was back in the room, they relaxed, with Tommy playfully messing up Finn's hair. She heard Tommy say, "Be careful getting home."

 He scampered off after briefly exchanging niceties with Grace, leaving her alone with Tommy.

 "Thank you for tonight. Finn enjoyed himself." Tommy spoke quietly, edging towards her with his hands moving to her waist. She smiled at him and settled in his embrace a while. "He was worried he'd upset you."

 Grace gave him an inquiring look, but said nothing.

 "Your family..."

 "I'm fine. It's fine." She wriggled out of his arms evasively, and began reaching for her nightdress. He watched her move away from him, staying still and quiet, but making his presence felt as always. As she went to undo the clasp of her dress, he closed the gap between them and helped slip the dress over her shoulders. 

 "Grace." When he spoke her name, it was as though he was delicately placing down something unbearably heavy that he had been carrying for far too long. Tommy was so close to Grace, standing behind her, that she felt his breath on her neck as he spoke. "Whatever happened to them, you're not alone. You're not alone, Grace."

 Her head bowed, eyes filling with tears, though he couldn't see. She blinked them away before he could and then turned to face him, letting her head fall straight onto his shoulder. Savouring the warmth of their bodies together, neither said a word for a long while. Eventually, Grace's eyes opened and she said quietly, "I know, Tommy."

 He was silent.

 ..."I know."

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback, glorious feedback. I'd love to hear what you think!


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